


Trouble With a Capital R?

by 18lzytwner



Series: LazyTown Second Series [5]
Category: LazyTown
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-05-13
Updated: 2007-05-13
Packaged: 2019-06-28 12:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 14,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15707424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/18lzytwner/pseuds/18lzytwner
Summary: Things in LazyTown were going all right. That is until Robbie gets out of prison.Again age difference is not substantial.





	1. Chapter 1

**_Three years after Can’t Deny It_ **

          A new day dawned in LazyTown.  The sun began to show it’s bright edges over the top of the buildings of the small town, waking residents who still lay abed at that particular hour.  Birds welcomed the sun in their own special way.  Most people would have been in a good mood at this lovely start to their day but not everyone.  A storm was brewing inside the Meanswell household.

          Stephanie could hear the pounding footsteps of her Uncle.  He had been in a strange mood lately and she couldn’t figure out what it was.  Rolling out of bed she realized that it was seven thirty in the morning.  Her first college class started at ten, so she quickly went about getting her things together.  It took her thirty minutes to walk to LazyTown Community College and she needed to leave by nine-fifteen at least.  She would have ridden her bike like normal but a recent rash of items being stolen on campus had left her no choice but to leave her bike at home.  With an outfit picked out, she rushed across the hall and locked the bathroom door behind her.

          Thirty minutes later, she emerged with her pink dress on and her hair fixed and her teeth brushed.  Rushing down the hall, she headed into the living room.  She loaded the folders, spiral notebooks, and laptop into a very overstuffed book bag.  Last night she had spent twenty minutes, sewing up the seam that had busted near the zipper.  The poor pink bag had seen a better day but she promised herself that as soon as the Spring semester was over she’d get another one.

          Moving into the kitchen she pulled an apple from the basket on the counter and then grabbed another one for her snack later.  She’d probably grab lunch with Trixie later anyway but it wouldn’t hurt to have some sports candy for later.  Looking at her watch, she saw that it was almost eight-thirty. 

          “Goodbye Uncle Milford!  I’ll see you around five!”  Stephanie shouted.

          “All right!”  He shouted back, his mood hadn’t improved.  Heaving a big sigh, she ducked out the door and headed toward the familiar airship in the distance.

          Sportacus stood up from his bed and the piece of furniture pulled itself up into the wall when he pressed a button on the floor.  Then he pushed a combination of buttons and the wall opened up.  Behind this wall was a bathroom.  Stepping inside he closed a door that had appeared with the hidden room.

          Fifteen minutes later, the above average hero came out of the bathroom, freshly showered and only wearing his pants.  He pushed a button and a wall cabinet opened.  There he pulled a fresh razor blade out of that cabinet and then ducked back into the bathroom.

          Outside, Stephanie called to the ladder and it came down.  She nimbly climbed it, despite the weight of her bulging backpack.  In a few minutes, the college student reached the platform and got onto it.  She ordered it up and then found herself inside the airship. 

          Stephanie could hear the water running and knew that Sportacus was in the bathroom.  She pulled her backpack off and set it carefully onto the floor.  In a minute or two the above average hero emerged from the room.

          “Morning babe.”  He smiled.  Stephanie’s eyes roamed over his bare torso.  She came over to him and wrapped her arms around his broad chest.

          “It’s nice to see you too.”  The above average hero told her.  He could feel that something was not right but then again it shouldn’t be. 

          “Uncle Milford has been in an awful mood the last few days and we’ve barely spoken.  Whenever I say something he snaps at me, I don’t understand what’s going on.  He won’t tell me.”  Stephanie pulled her face away from him and looked up at his handsome face.  Sportacus smiled slightly and brought his hand to her cheek. 

          “I’ll see if I can worm it out of him while you’re at school.  I’ll see you today at three right?”  He asked.

          “Three?  I have class until four-thirty.”  Stephanie gave him a confused look.  He was surprised that she didn’t remember but then again she and her Uncle hadn’t been speaking.

          “Robbie gets out of prison today.”  Sportacus told her.


	2. Chapter 2

Stephanie pulled away from Sportacus and the look in her eyes was one he didn’t see often.  It was one of fear.  The only thing he could think to do was to try to comfort her.  He took hold of her forearm and gently pulled her back to him.  Wrapping his big strong arms around her once more, he hoped that she’d feel better.

          “How could I have forgotten?”  She asked as she turned her head to the side.

          “A lot has changed in three years.  You’re nineteen and in college.  You’ve graduated high school, got your driver’s license, got your first job.  Life has just been too good to focus on the bad things.”  The above average hero told her.  Stephanie smiled remembering all the good times that she had had over the past years.  Sportacus led her over to the bed and she sat down while he pulled on his shirt and vest.  Once that was done, he joined her.  Stephanie put her head on his shoulder and he kissed her hair.

          “I have you too.”  She smiled.  Sportacus beamed at that.  The two of them had been very happy over the course of their relationship.  They had been keeping it a secret from everyone except for the Mayor.  Part of the reason for that was the eleven-year difference that separated them and the other was the fact that Sportacus had wanted to be cautious.  He still feared his enemies would use the relationship against him.  It had been a sore spot between them but they had both agreed that when the time was right, they would let everyone know.

          “I have to go to school.”  Stephanie broke the silence that filled the airship. 

          “Are you sure you want to?”  The above average hero asked.

          “I have to go on with my day.  Maybe Robbie has changed, maybe things will be different.”  She said strengthening her resolve as she stood up.

          “All right.  Do you want me to drop you off?”  Sportacus asked as he stood up as well.

          “I could use a walk, thanks anyway.”  She told him.  He nodded; he understood that she needed to think things through.

          “I’ll swing by the college and pick you up.  We’ll walk to the police station together.”  The above average hero said.  Stephanie only nodded.  She was now distracted.  Sportacus pulled her to him and kissed her.  This snapped her from her funk and she responded.  When they parted, a smile had returned to her face.

          “I’ll see you later.”  She promised. 

          “Try to have a good day.”  He smiled as he watched her pick up her backpack and head down the ladder.

          Robbie sat in his prison cell.  The past three years had been a rude awakening.  He had already decided that he was never coming back here after his release.  The awful jumpsuits, his cellmate, Bubba, and the nasty food were something he wished to not deal with again.  Bubba had been nice at first but when it somehow leaked that Robbie had tried to beat up Sportacus and things went down hill from there.  He’d been beaten constantly until they moved him to a different cell for his own good.  His new cellmate, Billy Bob, wasn’t much better.  Granted Billy Bob didn’t beat him but he was a strange character and Robbie didn’t feel safe falling asleep in the same room with.  So after awhile, the warden decided that Robbie should be in a cell of his own.  Solitary confinement was the best option and the convicted felon liked being alone. 

          Now he stood in his cell and gathered all the measly personal belongings he had.  After lunch, there was a meeting with his attorney and the warden.  Then at two-thirty, he was to be transferred to LazyTown’s Police Headquarters.  From there he would be officially released and free for the rest of the afternoon.  The next day he was to report to the LazyTown Mission for the homeless.  Five years of that was going to be the worse than being beaten up in prison but he’d be free after his shifts.  Already a plot formed in his mind on how to be rid of Sportacus and this time he would not get caught.


	3. Chapter 3

“Robert Rotten, you are hereby released from police custody.  You will report to the LazyTown Mission for the homeless tomorrow at nine a.m. sharp.  There you will stay until five p.m. and then you will report to your lawyer your day’s activities.  Is that understood?”  Chief Dooright asked.

          “Yes, sir.” Robbie replied.

          “Very well then.  You are free to go.”  Dooright practically choked on the words but he knew that the homeless shelter needed all the help it could get and he also knew that if Robbie couldn’t prove himself to be useful the judge would want to hear about it.   The “rehabilitated” villain nodded and picked up his bag of things.  He strode out of the LazyTown Police Station and bumped right into the two people he had hoped to avoid, Sportacus and Stephanie.

          “Afternoon.”  He said, trying to be nice without gagging.

          “Good afternoon, Robbie.”  Sportacus was the first to speak.  Stephanie was still wary of him.

          “If you’ll let me, I’d like to apologize for my behavior three years ago.  I was so caught up I my own little world that I didn’t realize what I was doing.  Prison has given me a new perspective and I hope that in time you can forgive me.”  The villain could feel the food he ate for lunch rising in his throat.  However the last thing he wanted to taste again was the awful prison food so he forced it back down.

          “Robbie, at your sentencing I said that I hoped we could become friends.  That still holds true.  Once you get settled into your routine, hopefully we can talk.”  The blue sports elf extended his hand and Robbie slowly took it.  Sportacus gave one of his famous handshakes and the villain tried to work the feeling back into his fingers when he was released.

          “Thanks.”  Robbie gave his best attempt to smile and gave a nod to Stephanie before turning to head back to his lair.

          Sportacus turned to Stephanie as Robbie disappeared into the distance.  She hadn’t said a word and he wondered if she was all right.  Before he could say anything she spoke.

          “I guess I’m not as ready for this as I thought I could be. Something inside me still doesn’t want to trust him.” 

          “I understand.  He hurt you but he apologized.  Hopefully in time we can become great friends and all of this will be a distant memory.”  The above average hero tried to make her feel more at ease. 

          “I have too many bad memories already, I don’t need anymore.”  Stephanie said.  Before Sportacus could react, she turned and ran toward her Uncle’s house.  Her heavy book bag was slowing her down but she didn’t care.  Quickly, the above average hero ran after her.

          Robbie opened the door to his lair and saw the horrible mess.  Dust covered everything in sight and cobwebs had filled corners of the main room. 

          “Ugh.  I’m too tired to clean this up.”  He muttered.  Trudging into the room he suddenly found his feet up in the air and his back on the ground.

          “I meant to do that.”  The villain said to no one in particular.  He looked around and noticed that he’d slipped on a piece of the yellow crime scene tape.  Sighing, Robbie got up and carefully moved around the room until he reached his disguise machine.  Smirking to himself he pressed a series of keys and pulled two knobs.  A robot appeared from the machine’s last tube and whirred its way over to its master.

          “Clean up this place.”  Robbie ordered it.  The robot beeped in understanding and immediately set about the task at hand.  Arms struck out of its sides and they wiped away the dust and cobwebs.  A broom came out of the bottom most arm and swept the floor and remnants of the crime scene tape that Robbie had slipped on.  Within twenty minutes the room was clean and the contraption had moved down the hall cleaning the rest of the lair.  Robbie collapsed in his big fuzzy orange chair and a cloud of dust billowed into the air.  The villain coughed and hacked until the dust settled.  He pounded on his chest and cleared his throat.

          “Now it’s time for Operation Get Rid of Sportacus.”  The sudden thought occurred to him that he wasn’t very imaginative with the names of his plans and perhaps that was why they failed so often.  Shrugging it off, he got to work.


	4. Chapter 4

Sportacus easily caught Stephanie and stopped her from running.  He could feel the confusion and pain surrounding her and wanted to wrap her up in his arms but he couldn’t because they were out in public.

          “Stephanie you can’t focus on the bad things.  Remember what we discussed earlier?”  He asked.  She only nodded. 

          “Come on, let’s go to your Uncle’s house where we can talk.”  The above average hero told her.  The two walked along in silence until they reached the familiar address.  Stephanie pulled out her keys and opened the door.  Once inside Sportacus helped her take off her backpack and they walked into the living room.  Taking a seat on the couch, Sportacus pulled the nineteen year old onto his lap.  He wrapped his big muscular arms around her and held her close.  Stephanie realized that this was the first time he was actually sitting still and it worried her.

          “Why aren’t you wiggling?”  She asked, concern evident in her voice.

          “Because I’m worried about you.”  He replied.  Stephanie sighed and wrapped her right hand around the back of his neck.  Her head found his shoulder and she listened to his heartbeat.  No matter how she was feeling he could always make her feel better.

          “I’m afraid that I won’t be able to forgive Robbie.  I thought I would be able to but I just don’t know anymore.”  The nineteen year old told him.

          “It’s not easy to forgive people.”  Sportacus said.  That was something she didn’t expect him to say.  Moving her head from his shoulder she gave him a confused look.

          “When I lost my parents, I sat at their murderer’s trial with anger and animosity in my heart.  Everyone loved my parents and here this man had gone and destroyed everything I held dear.  I wanted to kill him.  I wanted to make him see how it felt but then I remembered my father telling me that as a hero he had to have the will to forgive.  I had to understand where both sides were coming from. 

          “When the man was convicted of my parents murder, he turned around and looked at his family.  I could see the pain in his eyes.  I lost my family and so did he.  I would later visit him in prison and he didn’t try to give excuses as to why my parents had to die, he just apologized.  He told me that he hadn’t meant to shoot them and he was sorry for the pain he’d caused.  When I asked him why he did it, he said he needed the money to buy food for his family.  At that moment I understood.  If he didn’t get food for them, they would starve.  From that point on, I stayed in contact with him and his family.  You remember when I went away last year for a few days?”  He asked.

          “Yes.”  Stephanie said.

          “I went to his parole hearing.  Because of my compassion and pleas, they released him.  He had served his debt to society.  Now he’ll have to deal with what he’s done when he meets his maker but I would have no right to bring them together sooner than necessary.”  The above average hero explained.

          “I see.  Why didn’t you let me come with you?  I would have been there to help you.”  She wondered.

          “It was something I had to see through.  I didn’t want to drag you into it.”  He told her.  Stephanie nodded and smiled. 

          “I’m always here for you as you are here for me.  Don’t leave out, I care too much about you to let you suffer alone.”  She said.  At this Sportacus smiled and said,

          “I care about you too and that’s why, I know it’ll be hard but give Robbie a chance.  He might surprise you.”  The two brought their lips together and shared a kiss. 

          “Yuck!”  Robbie shouted as he watched the scene unfold through his periscope.

          “Those two are a couple now.  That just gross but I can use this to my advantage.  Sportacus would do anything for that pink cheerleader and I have just the right thing for him to do.”  The villain smirked as he went back to stirring the concoction he’d created. 

          “One little taste of this and he won’t be able to resist anything I tell him to do.”  Robbie pulled his back his head and laughed maniacally. 


	5. Chapter 5

Robbie slowly tipped the cauldron over and poured all of the strange smelling liquid into a bowl.  Then he grabbed a test tube and scooped some of the creamy yellow liquid into it.

          “Hmmm, I need to test this on someone before I give it to Sportawipe, but who’s going to drink this stuff?  It smells awful!”  He grabbed his nose with his left hand.

          “I have to disguise it somehow.”  The villain set the tube down in the holder on the table so he could think.  Robbie began pacing and tapping his forehead.

          “Think, think, think.”  He wasn’t getting anywhere fast and mostly getting a headache from tapping his head.  Then the alarm on his periscope sounded.  Welcoming the distraction, Robbie went over to take a look.

          “Ah that kid who likes candy.  What was his name? Zippy?”  He wondered.  Then he felt something coming on and put his finger to his nose.  With all the dust that had been floating around it was probably a sneeze but then he realized it wasn’t a sneeze but an idea.

          “If I turn some of this nasty liquid into taffy, that kid will eat it up.”  Quickly he went over to a cupboard and rifled around inside for the item he was looking for. 

          “Aha!  There you are.”  The villain pulled an ice cube tray out and set it on the table.  It was dirty and in need of some cleaning so he went over to the sink and cleaned it out.  When he returned, he took the test tube and filled a couple compartments with the nasty concoction he’d created.  Then instead of sticking them into the freezer he stuck them into the fridge.  Going back to the periscope, he looked out and saw Ziggy had disappeared. 

          “Rats!  He’s gone, that little twerp.  The stuff won’t be cooled for at least a few hours.  What am I going to do?”  Robbie complained as he began to pace again.  Soon he had another idea. 

          “Why don’t I take it to the Mission tomorrow and give someone a special treat?”  He raised his eyebrows a few times.

          “Sometimes I’m so bad, I even impress myself.”  The villain laughed.

* * *

          Meanwhile over at the Mayor’s house, Stephanie sat in the kitchen waiting for Trixie to come over.  They had made plans to spend some time together this afternoon and now that it was later they probably would go out to eat.  The doorbell rang and the nineteen year old sprang up from her seat and answered the door.

          “Hey girl!”  Trixie smiled and gave her best friend a hug. 

          “Hey.”  Stephanie smiled back.

          “So what do you want to do?”  Trixie asked.

          “Maybe we could get some dinner.  Uncle Milford isn’t back from work yet; he called to say that he’d be late so I’m on my own.  How’d you manage to get away from Stingy?”  Her friend wondered. 

          “Pixel called and wondered if they could play some video games.”  Trixie said.

          “Some things never change do they?”  Stephanie laughed as she slipped her sneakers on.

          “Well I’m hoping they do.  I mean we’ve been dating for almost three years and I’m beginning to wonder if this relationship is going anywhere.”  The dark haired girl answered.

          “What are you hoping for?”  Stephanie shut the door behind them and made sure that it was locked.

          “I’ve been holding out that he stops thinking about what is his and what he wants and starts thinking about what’s good for us.”  Trixie sighed.

          “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”  Her friend reminded her as they headed for the local diner.

“I hope changing Stingy’s point of view doesn’t take as long.  I mean it’s been almost three years and he still behaves like we were eight.”  Trixie rolled her eyes.

“Well maybe you’d better sit him down and talk to him.  If he knows how you feel then maybe things will change.”  Stephanie suggested.  Her friend nodded and the two walked into the diner and picked out a spot to sit.  The rest of the evening was spent talking and laughing as only two best friends could do.


	6. Chapter 6

Robbie woke up to his alarm blasting it’s annoying buzzing sound.  He pulled out a mallet he had beside his bed and brought the hammer down onto it.  The sound was successfully stopped but parts of the clock went all over.  Robbie muttered to himself and slowly got out of bed.  The words of Chief Dooright still were fresh in his memory.  Dooright had made it perfectly clear that if he was to make a mistake that he’d find himself back in prison.  The last thing Robbie wanted to do was to go back there.

          He whistled and the robot came into the room and cleaned up what remained of the alarm clock.  Then it placed a new one on the nightstand.  Robbie headed for the shower and hoped the hot water would wake him up.  The villain stripped off his pajamas, grabbed a towel, hung it on the towel ring, and then pulled back the shower curtain.  He was amazed to find it so clean and vowed to give himself a piece of cake later for creating the cleaning robot.

          After closing the curtain, Robbie reached for the shower knob and turned it.  Nothing came out at first and he found that odd.  Of course after three years of non-use, perhaps it had air in the line.  He waited a minute and finally water came out.  Well needless to say the water was nowhere near warm.  In fact it felt like ice cubes pelting his skin.  Robbie let out a shriek like a little girl. 

          Across town, Stephanie awoke to the sound of birds chirping through her open bedroom window.  They were their usual happy selves and it made the nineteen-year-old smile.  She got out of bed and crossed the room to open her curtain.  As she pulled it back, sun streamed in and she opened the window a little more.  Walking over to the closet she picked out an outfit for the day and was about to head to the shower when there was a knock on her door.  Thinking it was odd; she grabbed her bathrobe and threw it around herself before answering it.

          “Morning.”  A familiar accented voice said as she pulled open the door.  Her face immediately brightened as she saw her above average hero standing there.

          “Good morning to you.  What brings you over here?”  She asked as she pulled him into her room.

          “Can a hero come over and visit his girl?”  His answer was to find Stephanie’s lips on his.  When they separated, they were both smiling.

          “I do love it when you visit.”  She said.  In one swift motion, Sportacus scooped her up in his arms.  Stephanie threw her arms around his neck and placed her head on his shoulder.

          “Where to ma’am?”  He asked.

          “Well I should be getting ready for my nine o’clock class but I guess my bed will do for the moment.”  She smiled and kissed his neck. 

          “Yes ma’am.”  Sportacus smiled and walked over to the bed and gently set her down.  He then bent over and kissed her forehead.  Stephanie’s arms were still around his neck and she pulled him closer.  He fell forward and found himself laying on top her. 

          “Your Uncle…” he cautioned.

          “Won’t come into my room.”  She told him.  Sportacus smiled and pulled his left leg over her so that he was completely over the top of her.  The above average hero began to kiss Stephanie’s neck and worked his way up to her lips.  They were enjoying their quality time together until Milford’s footsteps could be heard out in the hall.  Sportacus quickly pulled away from Stephanie.  The last thing that the above average hero wanted was for the Mayor to see that he was making out with his niece. 

          “I’ll see you after your classes today.”  He promised and quickly ducked out the open window.  Stephanie sighed and got up out of bed.  Today was going to be a good day. 

          Meanwhile at the LazyTown Mission, Robbie reported for duty.  His awful cold shower had put him in a bad mood but the chance to test out his concoction made him smile the most evil smile.

          “Mr. Rotten, my name is Suzy Smith.  I run this facility and I expect that you will follow the rules I have laid down.”  The woman handed him a packet of paper that appeared to be almost fifty pages thick.  Robbie grimaced inwardly, no way he was going to read all that. 

          “Now go down the hall to the kitchen and report to Charlie.  It’s the third door on the right.”  Suzy told him.  Robbie got up from his seat and headed out into the hall.  He easily found the door he was looking for and opened.

          “Put a hairnet on!”  Someone shouted.  Robbie saw the dispenser right next to the door and made a face.  He quietly pulled one out and put it on.

          “You must be my new helper, Robert.”  A tall African American man came over to him.

          “It’s Robbie actually and you must be Charlie?”  The villain asked.

          “That’s me.  We’ll be spending a lot of time together so I hope we can get along.  Now throw your lunch into the walk-in fridge.”  Charlie pointed to the large door in the wall.  Robbie quickly opened the door and put the bag on the shelf.  Then he went back out and Charlie began to explain how things worked. 

          Three hours later the lunch bell rang and the main doors to the dining room opened.  Men of all ages began coming in for their meal.  Robbie took note of every one of them and their behavior.  One man looked like he would be perfect to test his creation.  He acted a little strange and most of the others stayed away from him.

          “Perfect.”  He said to himself.  After they served the meals, Robbie went into the walk-in fridge and grabbed his lunch bag.  He pulled out a piece of the yellow candy and pocketed it.  Walking over to the older man, Robbie started to clean up the table around him.

          “Sir, are you all set?”  He asked as politely as possible.  The man looked at him and then stuck out his tongue. 

          “I’ll take that as a no.”  Robbie shook his head.  Then he carefully reached into his pocket and pulled out the ‘taffy’.  Discretely, the villain placed it on the table and watched as the man went for it.  He shoved it into his mouth and suddenly made a face at the awful taste.  However, he swallowed it.  Robbie smirked and then waited a minute for the stuff to kick in.  Then he leaned over and whispered,

          “Act like a chicken.”  At first the man didn’t move and gave Robbie a strange look.  Then he suddenly stood up and began flapping his arms and making noises as though he was a chicken.  The entire dining room turned to look at the spectacle in front them.  The younger men started to laugh while the older ones just shook their heads.  Robbie could see Charlie looking over there and he quickly moved away from the man and began to clean the other tables.  About ten minutes passed before things calmed down but it was all the proof that Robbie needed.  If he injected enough of that stuff into an apple or some other healthy thing and Sportakook ate it, the above average hero would be his to control.   


	7. Chapter 7

Stephanie walked home with Trixie, their book bags weighing them down.  Neither one could believe how much work they had to do.

          “It never fails.  I finally get one project done and I get another one.”  The pink-haired one sighed.

          “Well what did you expect?  You chose to be a history major.”  Trixie smirked as she sifted her book bag on her shoulders.

          “Says the girl who wants to be a teacher.”  Stephanie rolled her eyes.  Both girls laughed and smiled at each other.

          “So did you talk to Stingy?”  Her friend asked.

          “I tried but I don’t think I’m getting through.”  Trixie became serious.

          “Maybe the trick is to start spending time with Ziggy and Pixel.  Then he’ll get jealous and finally want to talk.”  Stephanie suggested.

          “That could get ugly.”  The dark-haired girl replied.

          “Yeah but I’m out of ideas.”  Stephanie smiled slightly.  Trixie just shrugged and the two were silent for a few moments until they saw Robbie walking nearby.

          “I wonder what he’s up to.”  The second nineteen year old said.

          “I don’t wanna know.  Ever since he got out I’ve been having these uneasy feelings.  Sportacus says I should give him a chance but something in me refuses to.”  Stephanie answered.

          “Well keep you distance and focus on your school work.”  Trixie told her.  Her friend nodded and they continued on their way.

          “Robbie pulled open the lid on the tube that led to his lair.  He was tired from working but the idea of getting Sportacus kept him from flopping down in his fuzzy orange recliner.  The villain pulled all that remained of his concoction out of the fridge and popped it into the microwave.  He watched as the tray circled around on the inside of the appliance and how the ‘taffy’ returned to its original liquid state.

          “Excellent.”  He said to himself as he pulled the microwave door open.  The villain reached inside and pulled out the ice cube tray, which had grown hot.  In order to not burn himself, Robbie moved his fingers around until he set the tray down on the table that stood behind him.  Then he grabbed a syringe and put the tip of it into the liquid in the compartment.  Next, Robbie pulled back the plunger and the yellow gooey stuff began to fill the chamber.  However one compartment was too much liquid for the needle and this would make his task take twice as long but he didn’t care.  Grabbing an apple from the table he stuck the tip of the needle into the part where the stem comes out.

          “He’ll never see the pin hole and that elf will bite into this nasty health food.  Now all I have to do is fill up five more apples and then find the mini receiver to stick inside the wonderful package.”  Robbie quickly set about doing what he planned and within half an hour was almost done.  Six apples sat in an Easter type basket, on a cushion of plastic pink grass.  Inside the pink grass was hidden the mini receiver.  At first Robbie thought about sticking the receiver inside an apple but then he’d have to have six of them and the added issue of the possibility of Sportacus swallowing one, which was too risky.  Now all that was left to do was to guarantee that the above average hero got and ate the package.

          “How am I going to make sure he eats it?”  Robbie wondered to himself.  He paced about until an idea hit him.

          “A little note from Pinky ought to ensure that Sportadupe eats it.  The only problem is how am I going to write like that cheerleader?”  Again he took up pacing until he got dizzy and then he sat down. 

          “Handwriting, handwriting…” the villain tapped his forehead.  Then it hit him.

          “The Note-Faker 5000!  It makes anyone’s handwriting neat and can write up to one hundred words in ten seconds.”  Robbie shook the ad from his head and smiled.  This was going to be easier than he thought.     


	8. Chapter 8

Robbie snuck around with his package toward Sportacus’ airship.  It was before eight o’clock so he knew the over-active jumping being would be out and about.  The ladder hung down from the blimp and it was easy for the villain to start climbing it.  Within a few minutes he was at the top of the ladder.  Next he put the basket down on the platform and awkwardly climbed onto it himself.

          “Now what does he say?  Up?”  Robbie wasn’t sure which one was right but it seemed to work as the platform retracted itself up inside the airship.  Once that was over, he looked around for a place to put it.  The bed was flipped down, so he assumed that was the perfect spot.  As he crossed the floor however, he stepped on a little circle on the floor the sports candy dispenser slid out of the wall.  Robbie hit the deck and the apples went rolling all over the place.  He cursed under his breath as he rolled around on the floor trying to collect his tainted fruit.  Finally he got them together and got the basket back in one piece.  Resetting the sensors, the villain quickly headed for the platform and left the airship.

          Meanwhile over at the Mayor’s house, Stephanie and Sportacus swung on the backyard swing.  The above average hero couldn’t stop twitching and the nineteen year old couldn’t help but giggle.

          “It really isn’t that funny.”  The above average hero smirked.

          “I’m sorry but you’re legs just can’t seem to stop it.”  Stephanie giggled some more.  She then slipped her hand into his.

          “I love you.”  She murmured. 

          “I love you too.”  He smiled.  Both desperately wanted to kiss but they were outside and they both still hadn’t agreed on how to let their secret out.

          “I’ll be twenty soon.  Why not tell everyone that we’re a couple?”  Stephanie asked.

          “I’ve been thinking about that.  It was foolish of me to think we could keep this a secret forever.  I was selfish.  I love you more than anything and I want the world to know it.  Maybe if we just start doing subtle things like holding hands and…” Sportacus never got to finish his sentence.  The nineteen year old had pressed her lips to his.  They kissed and then separated.

          “That felt good.”  Stephanie smiled as she put her head on the above average hero’s shoulder.

          “Our first kiss outside, but you know I think I could use a little more.”  He smiled as the nineteen year old picked her head up.  They were about to smooch again when Trixie’s voice could be heard.  It was followed by Sportacus’ crystal going off.  A quick peck on the cheek was all Stephanie got before Sportacus was off like a shot.

          The above average hero arrived at Trixie’s house to find the girl chasing Stingy around the living room.  She had this look in her eyes that he’d never seen before.  With one swift movement, Sportacus stepped in front of the deranged girl and put an end to the chase.

          “What is going on?”  He asked as Stingy cowered in the corner of the room.

          “She’s trying to kill me!  I like my body the way it is, its MIIIIIINE!” the teenager exclaimed.

          “You just don’t get it do you?!”  Trixie was obviously at the end of her rope.  Then the two of them started jawing at each other.

          “Time out!”  Sportacus raised his voice to be heard over them.  Both stopped and looked at him.  The above average hero never raised his voice.

          “Now we’re calmly going to talk this over until an agreement can be reached.”  After a few minutes, Trixie finally calmed down enough to begin to speak.  Unfortunately it would be three hours before Sportacus would crawl into bed and the apples placed on the sports candy dispenser.


	9. Chapter 9

Sportacus awoke at the same time he did everyday.  He had bags under his eyes and his body ached from the lack of rest.  Mentally he knew he had to get going but physically his body just wanted to lie in bed for another few hours.

          The above average hero moseyed on over to the sports candy dispenser and grabbed an apple from the basket, hoping to reenergize himself.  Instead all he got was a mouthful of an indescribable nasty taste.  Sportacus was about one second from spitting it out when a voice came out of nowhere.

          “Finish the apple.”  It said.  Much to Sportacus’ horror, his hand lifted the disgusting fruit to his mouth and he bit it.  The strange combination of sour, rotten, paint-like texture and a few other things that he couldn’t put his finger on almost made him gag.  Within five minutes, the above average hero had force-fed himself the entire thing.

          “Now jump around the room.”  The voice came again and again Sportacus’ body obeyed.  After a few minutes, he could swear he heard laughing before the disembodied voice came again.

          “Stop.”  Sportacus stopped jumping.

          “Excellent.  Now climb down the ladder and head for the park.”  The above average hero watched his body comply with the order.  He knew that if he didn’t come up with something quick that this voice was going to make him do something he’d regret.

          Over at the park, the teenagers were enjoying the wonderful Saturday weather.  The sun shone as usual and the temperature had climbed near seventy-five degrees or roughly twenty-four degrees Celsius as Ziggy had informed everyone.  That only led to Trixie smacking him upside the head for talking about school on the weekend.  The friends were playing a rousing game of PIG on the basketball court.  Soon it was Stingy’s turn and he grabbed the ball.

          “It’s MIIIINE!”  He declared.

          “Shoot it already.”  Pixel yelled at him.  The younger one stuck out his tongue and fired a hot that missed by a good foot and a half.

          “I do believe that’s an I for you.”  Trixie pointed out.

          “So that puts Stingy in last place.”  Stephanie said.  The boy pouted and the game continued.  It wasn’t long before Stingy was eliminated and a crack was made about him never joining a basketball team.  Ziggy and Trixie followed and leaving just Stephanie and Pixel.  The Gizmo Guy had the edge since he only had a “P” and his pink-haired friend had “P-I”.

          “One more shot.”  Pixel smiled and moved to a spot, Stephanie had missed before. 

          “You wish.”  She challenged, all in good fun.  Just before Pixel let the ball go is when Sportacus showed up.  The kids were happy to see him until he stole the ball and proceeded to use his muscles to flatten it.

          “Hey that was MIIIIINE!”  Stingy bawled at the loss of “his” ball instead of realizing the odd behavior of the hero.

          “Why’d you do that Sportacus?”  The others wondered.  They got an eyeful when the town hero flipped them the bird.

          “What the… “ Trixie started to roll up her sleeves.

          “Stand down.  I’ll handle this.”  Stephanie stopped her friend and grabbed Sportacus’ arm.  She looked into his Icelandic baby blues and could see a look that pleaded for her to help him.

          “What’s wrong?”  She asked him.  The response was one that she would never forget.  Sportacus grabbed her waist and flung her over his right shoulder.  Then he turned to the group, beat his chest like Tarzan and carried Stephanie away.

          “What the hell just happened?”  Pixel asked.  None of his friends could give him an answer and they quickly took off after their two friends.

          Meanwhile Robbie was rolling around on the floor laughing hysterically in his lair.  This had to be his best idea yet.  Now that the trial run had passed, he could implement Phase One.  Quickly, he grabbed his microphone system and gave Sportacus another order.

          “Take the pink one to your airship.” 


	10. Chapter 10

Stephanie was launched onto Sportacus’ bed and the above average hero grabbed another apple from the basket.  It’s disgusting taste was becoming a little more bearable to deal with.

          “What are you doing?”  The pink one stood up and straightened her clothes.  The answer she received was Sportacus grabbing her arm and forcing her to sit down on the bed again.

          “Tie her up.”  The disembodied voice came again.  At this Sportacus’ eyes went wide.  That was the last thing he wanted to do.  However his hands went for the climbing rope he kept in the wall compartment.  Stephanie saw this move and tried to get away.  There wasn’t much space in the airship and it didn’t take very long to subdue her.  Once that was done, he finished the apple.

          “Sportacus, what are you doing?  Why did you tie me up?”  Stephanie tried to get him to talk but to no avail.

          “Leave her and take care of her friends.”  The order given, the above average hero grabbed some more rope and headed off down the ladder.  Stephanie knew that she had to do something but first she’d have to get out of her current predicament.  

          On the ground, Trixie, Pixel, Stingy, and Ziggy ran for the airship only to be met with Sportacus and his rope.  In a matter of minutes, ha had them all tied up at which point he decided to bend over and give them a view of the full moon.  The above average hero’s taut tan butt shook in the breeze.  The guys were gagging while Trixie had the urge to reach out and grab it.  Pulling his pants up, Sportacus whipped out a can of blue spray paint and headed toward Town hall.

          It wasn’t long before he got there and began to deface the public property with messages like ‘Sportacus rulz and the Mayor droolz’ and ‘Sportacus was here!’ before running away.  Needless to say when Milford Meanswell came outside and saw what had been done, he almost had a heart attack.

          “What the…” he started.

          “I didn’t know we were having a painter here.”  Bessy teased.

          “Call Chief Dooright.  I want the perpetrator caught and write a letter to Sportacus on the double.”  Bessy nodded and whipped out her cell phone.

          Meanwhile, the above average hero continued his child-like behavior all over town.  He filled all the empty parking spaces at the grocery store with shopping carts, used the spray paint to put moustaches on pictures of the Mayor, and made copies of his butt at the copy store, which he proceeded to put up all over town.

          In his underground lair, Robbie continued to laugh hysterically.  The pranks were juvenile and downright rotten.

          “By this time tomorrow, he’ll be in so much trouble it won’t even be funny.”  The villain laughed.

“But wait it _will_ be funny.”  Robbie erupted into more laughter.  He then pulled down the periscope to see what was going on.

Sportacus was running toward his airship.  No one else appeared to be around and now was a good time for the next part of the plan.

“Take the brats and put them up in the tree house.”  Robbie told him.  This task was easy as the above average hero lifted two kids at a time.  They squirmed around but Sportacus didn’t seem to notice.  Once that task was done, he climbed the ladder into his airship.

Stephanie lay on the bed, which was odd considering he hadn’t left her that way.  Looking around he found the mail tube next to the pink one’s head.

“She got knocked out by the mail.  How funny.  I always knew those high velocity projectiles were dangerous.”  Robbie smirked as he viewed the inside of the airship on the TV through which the mini camera feed was beaming.  He watched as Sportacus ripped up the letter as he was told but then the above average hero did something he wasn’t told to do.  He sat down next to Stephanie and brushed her hair from her face.  Then he got up and got an ice pack and placed it on her forehead.  This caused her to wake up.  Robbie couldn’t believe what he was seeing.  Even through mind control, when it came to Pinky, the sports elf couldn’t stop helping her.

“That is some deep connection they have.  Hmmm better make sure I break it.”  The villain grinned evilly. 


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning found LazyTown in turmoil.  The kids had been rescued from their tree house prison late last night, not by Sportacus but by the fire company.  They refused to say who had done this to them and the Mayor was confronted with the fact that whoever it was they had to be still holding Stephanie.

          “Where is Stephanie?”  He asked the town at the morning meeting he just called.  A murmur went through the crowd but no one answered him.  Trixie squirmed wishing she could say something but how do you tell the entire town its resident hero was suddenly a few sticks short of a forest?  Stingy saw her movement and grabbed her hand.  This caused her to turn to him; her eyes were wide.

          “We have to be silent.”  He said.  Maybe it was the fact that he said ‘we’ or maybe it was because they hadn’t held hands in over a week but whatever it was Trixie wrapped her arms around the young miser.

          Meanwhile other town residents were reporting what they had seen.  All of them sounded so unreal but it wasn’t until the copy store manager came forward and spoke up. 

          “I know where these butt pictures came from.”  He told the crowd.

          “Who did it?”  Mayor Meanswell asked.

          “You may all think this is a joke but I have it on tape.  Sportacus photocopied his backside yesterday and left the store without paying.”  The store manager’s words silenced the crowd.

          “He wouldn’t do that!”  Someone shouted after a few minutes

          “You’re lying!”  Another cried out.  Soon everyone was berating the man and the situation could have turned very ugly if the Mayor hadn’t yeller in the microphone.

          “ENOUGH!!!”  A silence fell over the crowd and they turned to their usually mild mannered Mayor.

          “Sir, if you truly have a tape, bring it to the police station.  The rest of you keep your eyes out for Stephanie.  I’ll be setting up a command post in my office where Chief Dooright will split any volunteers into groups.  Anyone else call Town Hall if you see anything.”  With that the meeting was ended and the crowd dispersed.

          Over in the airship, the apple count was down to two.  Robbie knew that he was running out of time.  When the hero ate his last apple, he would have roughly five or six hours to finish the task.  Worse still he hadn’t figured out how to break the two apart.  The problem lay with the fact that he’d have to force Sportacus to do something that he himself wouldn’t do.  Then he had an idea.

          “Grab that giant scarf you made and take Pinky to the tree house.”  Robbie ordered.  Sportacus stood from his position on the floor and picked the still tied up Stephanie up off the bed.

          “Where are you taking me?”  She asked.  There was no reply as the hero put the girl over his shoulder and began heading down the ladder.

          On the ground, Trixie walked around hoping that she could find Sportacus and try to talk with him.  Whatever was going on needed to stop before people in town went nuts.  She knew the store owner, Mr. Johansson, was right and she knew that it would lead to trouble.

          After putting Stephanie in the tree house, Sportacus moved swiftly after his next target.  The voice told him to find the other girl and find her he would.  He tried to fight the voice but he just couldn’t break free.  Then he spotted Trixie and the chase was on.

          It took about fifteen seconds before the above average hero caught up with the prankster.  She would have been glad to see him if he didn’t grab her around the waist.   Picking her up, he ran toward the old railroad tracks.  There the mighty hero used the scarf to tie Trixie to the rails.  The girl opened her mouth to scream and Sportacus stuffed the end of the scarf in her mouth.

          “Now go back to your airship.”  Robbie smirked.


	12. Chapter 12

Robbie laughed to himself as he began to flip switches on his control panel.  Soon outside, the sound of a train whistle could be heard.  The villain flipped another switch and up on the video screen popped up Trixie.

          The girl had turned her head and saw a bright light coming toward her.  She easily spit the end of the scarf out of her mouth and began screaming.

          “Right on cue.”  Robbie smirked as he flicked yet another switch.  Loud popping noises could be heard from the tree house followed by loud creaking.  This time it was Stephanie who cried out.  The two girls continued to scream as their situations worsened.

          Up in the airship, Sportacus’ crystal was beeping madly.  It took him a few seconds but the hero was on his feet.  It seemed as though his crystal had freed him from his own mind.  Quickly, he was down the ladder running toward the sounds of the two screaming girls.  He came into view on Robbie’s video screen and an evil smile crossed the villain’s face.

          “That’s my cue.”  Robbie grabbed his UPS get up and began climbing the ladder that led to the outside.

          Trixie watched in horror as the train engine came barreling down the tracks toward her.  The whistle sounded again and it covered up her screaming.  She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to brace for impact.  The only thing she wished was that she had had the chance to say goodbye to Stingy.

          Over at the tree house, Stephanie could feel the floor of the fort buckling under her weight.  It wasn’t meant for older kids and whatever had caused those pops had loosened the supports.  She knew that it would collapse and land on top of her.  The nineteen year old knew that Sportacus would save her before that happened.

          The above average hero rounded a corner and saw Trixie in trouble.  He headed toward her until he heard a familiar voice.

          “Stephanie!”  He turned and saw the tree house shake.  Trixie’s screaming forced him to look away from the pink one’s dilemma.  The train whistle sounded once more and he could see that it was within thirty feet of the girl and closing fast.  He knew he had a snap decision to make.  Without hesitating, he grabbed at the scarf that held Trixie down.  The train’s whistle sounded and it was even louder than before. 

“Sportacus hurry!” Trixie pleaded with him.  The above average hero finally was able to loosen the scarf and pulled both Trixie and the knitted monstrosity off the tracks as the train passed through.  What they both saw shocked them.

          It wasn’t a train after all.  It was only a mocked up old handcar made to look like a locomotive engine.  Then a loud crash and scream could be heard.

          “Stephanie!”  Sportacus shouted leaving a still shocked Trixie by the tracks.  He sped over to what was left of the tree house.  Wood and tree branches lay everywhere.  Quickly the above average hero began digging through the rubble.

“Stephanie!  Stephanie!”  He got no response and kept digging.  Other people had heard the screaming and they ran over.  They joined in trying to find the Mayor’s niece among the destroyed tree house pieces.

          No one noticed however a man dressed like a delivery person climb up the ladder to the airship.  Nor did they notice him climb back down with a basket that contained two apples and six mini sound and picture receivers.  Within a few minutes, everything that had tied the resident villain to the crime had been removed except for a little pink slip of paper that read,

          “To my Sportacus; a wonderful snack.  Love, Stephanie.”


	13. Chapter 13

It took ten minutes before the above average hero found poor Stephanie.  She was unconscious and there was blood oozing down the side of her head where a nasty cut could be seen.  Thankfully she was still breathing despite being tied up and practically squashed beneath the weight of the broken tree house.

          “Get Doctor Melior!”  Sportacus shouted and two people quickly ran to find the doctor.

          “Stephanie.”  The blue sports elf murmured as he untied her.  The nineteen year old didn’t respond to anything and this made him nervous.

          Within a few minutes, the doctor had arrived and he called for an ambulance.

          “She needs to be examined for internal bleeding and I can’t do that here.”  Melior explained.  Sportacus only nodded.  They waited for what seemed and eternity for the ambulance to arrive.  The paramedics loaded her up onto the gurney and the above average hero helped them lift it up onto the emergency vehicle.  Then he hopped aboard and they headed for FunTown.

          Meanwhile, Stingy found Trixie and had the town doctor check her out.  Other than being frazzled and a little sore, she seemed all right and Doctor Melior told her to get some rest.  Stingy took her home and made sure she was going to lie down.

          People cleared the scene at the demolished tree house as the police taped off the area.  Forensic experts swept the area and found pieces of shrapnel embedded in some of the supports.  Those were taken back to the lab, where they would be processed.

          The police then searched the airship for any answers as to why Sportacus would have stolen the photocopies, littered, and defaced public property.  They had the above average hero on tape and it was enough to get a search warrant.  Combing the dirigible over they found the little pink slip of paper.  It came as a shock since they did not know about the relationship.  The next step was to question the nineteen year old as soon as she was able.

          In FunTown, Sportacus anxiously paced about the waiting room.  The doctors said they’d let him know when they had some answers but the above average hero wasn’t as patient as he usually was.  Soon he heard someone shouting at the nurses and looked to find the mayor and Chief Dooright.  He joined them and tried to see if they had any answers.

          “The nurses won’t tell me anything.”  Milford was upset.

          “They won’t tell me either.”  Sportacus said.  The police chief turned to the head nurse and tried to explain the situation.

          “This is the Mayor of LazyTown.  His niece was just brought in here.  We need to know how she is.”  He pointed out.

          “Sir as I told the man in blue, they are attending to the girl they brought in from LazyTown.  Other than that I know nothing.”  The head nurse said.  Since they were getting nowhere they went and sat back down in the waiting room.

          “How bad did she look?”  Milford asked Sportacus.

          “She had a cut on the side of her head and she was unconscious.”  He answered, leaving out the part about the internal bleeding.  Just then Chief Dooright’s cell phone went rang and he excused himself to answer it.

          “Chief Dooright.”  He said once he was outside.

          “Chief this is Detective Schwab.  I have some information you need to hear.”  The man on the other end of the phone told him.

          “Well spit it out.”  Dooright’s patience was wearing thin.  It took about ten minutes for the Detective to explain everything.  Once he had done that the Chief promised to handle the situation.  When the phone call ended, he strode into the waiting room and said,

          “Sportacus we need to talk.”


	14. Chapter 14

The above average hero spent the better part of an hour explaining what had been happening and Chief Dooright wrote it all down.  Once they had settled everything the police Chief brought up something that would undoubtedly make things interesting.

          “You said that someone was controlling you with those apples.  Any ideas on who that could be?”  He conveniently left the part out about the note that the detectives had found.  If Stephanie were the one that had been behind the shenanigans then he’d rather save that for later.

          “No, all I know is that I didn’t recognize the voice.”  Sportacus said.

          “Voices can easily be disguised but for the moment until we find the perpetrator, you will be the one that is going to have to face the charges.  Someone has to clean off Town hall, remove those copies, and pay for them.”  Dooright explained.

          “But I had no control over my actions.”  The above average hero contested.

          “There is no way to corroborate your story.  No proof that there was anyone controlling you.  We have you on videotape making the copies and spray-painting the walls of Town Hall.  Then you tell me that you’re the one that put the kids up in the tree house and the fire company had to rescue them.  You also tell me that you tied Trixie to the railroad tracks and then saved her.  Worse still you tied up Stephanie put her back in the tree house, which was already in a weakened condition, and that collapsed.  What exactly do you want me to believe?  I thought you saved people because they were in trouble not because you put them there.”  The police Chief was upset.

          “I didn’t do any of those things willingly.  I’ve never lied to you before, why would I start now?”  Sportacus tried to make him understand.

          “I have no idea what to believe but unless we find anything that actually corroborates your story, I’m going to have to arrest you.  With the evidence we have, I have no doubt the DA will get a conviction.”  Bradley told him.  Then the police Chief stood up and walked out of the hospital. 

          Two more hours passed before a doctor came out and pulled the Mayor aside.  The two discussed the current situation for about fifteen minutes before Milford returned to the waiting room.

          “How bad is she?”  Sportacus asked.

          “Stephanie has a laceration on her temple, a major concussion, three broken ribs, minor internal bleeding, and a broken right leg, not to mention she is practically all black and blue.”  Mayor Meanswell sighed obviously distraught.

          “Can you see her?”  The above average hero inquired.

          “The doctor said he gave her some powerful pain medication and it put her to sleep.  We can see her but she won’t know we’re there.”  Milford was close to tears.  The nineteen year old was the only family he had left.

          “Stephanie is a tough girl.  She’ll be ok.”  Sportacus tried to reassure the Uncle and himself.

          “It’ll kill her if they arrest you.  I know you would never try to hurt her and I apologize for Bradley’s behavior.”  The Mayor said.

          “He has to follow the evidence.  Everything points to me but Stephanie knows I didn’t do it on purpose.  She could tell something was wrong with me.”  Sportacus told him.

          “Come on, let’s go see her.”  Milford got out of his chair rather shakily and the above average hero helped him walk down the hallway.


	15. Chapter 15

Back in LazyTown, the head forensic scientist, Will Porter, walked into Chief Dooright’s office.  He had some very important information for him.

          “We’ve dusted that note you found for prints and get this there aren’t any.”  Will said.

          “Not even Stephanie’s?”  Bradley asked.

          “No, not even hers.”  Porter told him.

          “So if she did write it, she wore gloves which makes no sense because she signed it.”  Dooright rubbed his chin, processing the information he’d received.

          “Yes if she were trying to hide her involvement she didn’t do a very good job.”  The forensic scientist agreed.

          “What else do we have?”  Dooright wondered.

          “I still have my bomb expert putting the pieces of shrapnel together.”  Porter said.

          “Shrapnel?”  The Police Chief questioned.

          “Yes there were fragments lodged in the supports of the tree house and some in the surrounding beams.”  Will explained.

          “Someone put explosives in the supports and blew them when they knew that Sportacus would save Trixie first because he believed her to be in mortal danger.”  Dooright understood.

          “It appears that way.  As far as the train tracks, there are obvious spots where the rust had been scraped off from something traveling across them however we were unable to find the source of it.”  The forensic scientist told him.

          “This was a major operation that had to take days of preparation by more than one person, all so we would believe that Sportacus was doing it.”  Bradley mused.

          “There is still no trace though as to why he would steal copies, litter, or deface Town Hall.”  Porter shook his head.

          “Sportacus told me this crazy story about someone controlling him but I’m beginning to believe it.  Whoever set this up had all their bases covered and if I don’t arrest someone for it the town will be in an uproar.  The last thing I need is for people to start using the same story when they commit a crime.”  The Police Chief rubbed his forehead above his left eye.

          “Well let my guy rebuild the explosive and check for fingerprints, we might get lucky.”  Will told him.

          “All right sounds good.  Thanks a lot.”  Dooright shook the forensic scientist’s hand and the man left the office.

          Meanwhile underground in his lair, Robbie was busy disassembling the fake train.  The old handcar had to be completely stripped down and its parts had to disappear.  He had easily removed the paper-mache locomotive face and burned it in one of the wood burning stoves that heated his home.  The metal handcar parts however would be tougher to dispose of.

          Robbie whistled and his little robot came whirring in to the room.  He then instructed it to take the handcar apart saving the nuts, bolts, and washers in separate piles.  The villain then went and pulled out a map of LazyTown.

          “Where to dump the pieces?  Where to dump them?”  He asked no one in particular.  Robbie looked over the map and saw that the old train tracks stemmed from an abandoned mine about a mile south of LazyTown.

          “That’s perfect!  But how do I get the pieces there?”  The villain wondered.  He began tapping his forehead and saying,

          “Think, think, think.”  It took him about twenty minutes before he cam up with an idea.

          “The south tunnel runs for about half of that distance.  If I put the pieces in there and fill it in, no one will ever know and that’ll be just as good as dumping them in the mine.”  Quickly he looked over at his robot, which was making fast work of the task it had been given.  Then Robbie went and grabbed his large two-wheeled cart.  He started loading pieces into the cart and headed down the south tunnel that branched off of the main room.  In about two hours he had the entire handcar with the exception of the nuts, bolts, and washers inside the dirt tunnel.

“Now comes the fun part.”  He smirked as he punched sticks of TNT into the walls of the tunnel and tied them together with some explosive wire.  The villain ran the line back to the beginning of the passageway at the metal door.

          “Fire in the hole!”  He shouted.

          “BOOM!!!!!”  Could be heard echoing down the tunnel.

          “Problem solved.”  Robbie smirked. 


	16. Chapter 16

Hours had passed and still Stephanie lay asleep from the medication.  Sportacus couldn’t stand that she was so bruised and broken.  The guilt inside him was gnawing like a beaver would chew on a tree.  He should have been able to save both of them, as a hero he failed and now the love of his life lay in a hospital bed in immense pain.  The above average hero held her right hand gently and rubbed the back of it with his thumb.

          Mayor Meanswell had fallen asleep in a chair on the other side of the bed.  All the day’s events had been too much for him.  Now it was early on Monday morning and the day brought nothing but more heartache and trouble.  Sportacus knew that Chief Dooright would probably be back later and he would make good on his threat.  There was no way to prove that he had been under some strange power and no way he could not accept responsibility.  That would set a bad example for the younger kids and that was something that would be even worse than paying for crimes he didn’t commit.  Confusion wracked his brain as he tried to think of a way that things could get back to normal.

          “Mmmeneneum.”  The strange word made Sportacus look up from the spot on the floor he’d been focusing on.  He looked around but the Mayor was still out like a light and…

          “Sportacus.”  The sound of his name made him look to see that Stephanie had opened her eyes.  She licked her lips and tried to move her head.

          “Don’t hurt yourself.  I’m here.”  He said softly and he rubbed his thumb over her hand.  The injured nineteen year old turned her head to see him despite his warning.

          “Is it you?”  She asked her voice barely above a whisper.

          “Yes, how do you feel?”  He wondered.

          “Like I was hit by a truck.  It hurts to breathe deeply.”  Stephanie’s voice was still low. 

          “You have some broken ribs.  Don’t over exert yourself.”  Sportacus wanted to hold her in his arms very badly but he knew that he couldn’t.

          “Why didn’t you come for me?”  She asked.  The above average hero knew this question was coming and he hoped she would understand.

          “Trixie was going to be killed.  I had to save her first.  I should have been there for you.  I should have saved you.”  He said.

          “No, don’t think like that.  If Trixie was in that much trouble then you had to save her first.  I’m still here.  I’ll be ok.  The most important thing is that you’re here with me and you’re you.  I thought I’d lost you.  What was happening?”  Stephanie inquired.  Sportacus would have answered that if Doctor Pundt hadn’t walked in.

          “Morning all.”  He said.  “How are you feeling Stephanie?” 

          “I’m still in a lot of pain.”  She said wincing from breathing too deeply.

          “Ok well don’t talk too much, we need those ribs to heal.  I’m going to try a different medication, one that isn’t so addictive and see if that works just as well.”  The doctor explained and the nineteen year old only nodded.

          “How long do you think she’ll have to be here?”  Milford asked, obviously now awake from his slumber. 

          “We’ll have to play it day by day to see how her ribs are healing.  At the minimum it will be a week.”  Pundt told them.

          “Thank you Doctor.”  Sportacus said.

          “You’re welcome.  The nurse will be in soon with the medication.”  He nodded and headed out of the door.  They had a few moments of silence before Chief Dooright appeared in the doorway.

          “Sportacus you need to come with me.”     


	17. Chapter 17

Stephanie looked to Sportacus, waiting for an explanation.  The above average hero didn’t want to worry her and he had to keep her calm because of her ribs.

          “Everything is fine.  I’m just going to talk to the Chief and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”  He gave her a small smile.  She gave him an unsure look but he bent over and kissed her forehead.

          “All right, I’ll see you later.”  Stephanie whispered.  Sportacus smiled and joined Chief Dooright at the door.  The Mayor watched in suspicion as the two left.

          “May I ask what this is about?”  The above average hero wondered once they were out of earshot.

          “We’d better discuss it down at the station, where there aren’t so many ears listening.”  Dooright explained.  Sportacus thought this was odd but he listened and did as he was told.

          When they arrived at the police station some twenty minutes later, the two went straight into the Chief’s office.

          “I have reason to believe that you are telling the truth about the voice inside your head.”  Dooright said.

          “You have proof?  My word wasn’t good enough?”  The above average hero asked.

          “I’m sorry my behavior was inexcusable but you have to understand the pressure I’m under.”  The police Chief apologized.

          “I understand.  Now what did you need to discuss?”  Sportacus wondered.  Bradley pulled out a plastic envelope from his desk and showed it to the blue sports elf.

          “Do you recognize the handwriting?”  He asked.  Sportacus took a few moments to look at it and then said,

          “It looks like Stephanie’s but there are some inconsistencies.” 

          “We found this note in your airship.  There are no fingerprints on it, not even Stephanie’s.  If she did write it, her fingerprints would be on it.  Then there was the explosives in the tree house supports.”  Chief Dooright said.

          “Explosives?  What do you mean?”  The above average hero asked.

          “The lab technicians found pieces of shrapnel embedded in the support beams.  They reconstructed them and it turns out that there were three M-80s tied together at each support.  They were powerful enough to practically destroy the joints; Stephanie’s weight on top of that caused them to snap.  There were no fingerprints but an order that big would have to require a name and an address when they are purchased.  Sadly, there wasn’t enough of the pieces to get a serial number so we are left with someone trying to set you up.  They were very good and careful.  We still don’t have any proof of what you claim was happening to you but if Stephanie can testify that she knew there was something amiss then maybe we can work something out with the District Attorney.”  Bradley explained.

          “All the kids can testify that something was wrong with me.  Do you think that’ll be enough to talk to the DA?”  Sportacus wondered.

          “I hope so.  Do you have any idea as to who would want to set you up?”  Dooright asked.

          “Other than Robbie Rotten, I have no clue but he hasn’t been out of prison long enough to do all this.  That and he apologized to both Stephanie and I when he was released.”  The above average hero told him.

          “I’ll send a few men over and see what our favorite villain is up to.  Hopefully if he is a part of this we’ll catch him in the act.”  Bradley stood up and Sportacus rose as well.

          “Let’s get you back to the hospital so you can be with Stephanie.” 

          “Thank you, Chief.” 

          “You know I kind of figured something was going on between you two but I didn’t say anything.”  Dooright smiled.  Sportacus just smiled back and the two walked out of the office. 


	18. Chapter 18

Robbie was asleep in his fuzzy orange chair when there was a sudden commotion and men shouting.  He slowly opened his eyes to find the barrel of a nine millimeter Glock only inches away from his face.  The villain suddenly found his pants wet.

          “Freeze scumbag!”  The officer wearing a bulletproof vest with the word ‘SWAT’ in all white capital letters shouted.  Immediately Robbie stuck his hands in the air.  A separate officer grabbed his hands and pulled the villain out of his seat and forced his hands behind him.  Cuffs were slapped on his wrists and the team of six men hoisted the wet Robbie Rotten up and out of his lair.

          Down at the police station, Chief Dooright had just settled into his chair and made the first a of few phone calls when the lieutenant that headed up the retrieval team came in to his office.

          “Yes, Trixie.  Thanks so much.  See you tomorrow at nine.”  Bradley hung up the phone and turned to the subordinate.

          “Mission complete sir.  Rotten is in the holding cell downstairs.”  The man said.

          “Good Lieutenant Glaser.  Thank you.”  Dooright smiled.

          “A word of warning sir.  The suspect is a little wet.”  Glaser told him.

          “Wet?”  The Chief asked.

          “He wet his pants when we picked him up.”  The lieutenant could barely contain his laughter.  At this Dooright couldn’t help but laugh.

          “Well I’ll let him stay in the cell tonight and question him tomorrow.  Call Suzy Smith and let her know that she’ll be missing Mr. Rotten for a few days.  Give her my apologies.”  Bradley said as the laughter subsided a few minutes later.

          “Yes sir.  Good night sir.”  Glaser smiled and left the Chief alone to finish up his phone calls. 

          Over at the FunTown Hospital, Sportacus sat next to Stephanie’s bed.  The girl was asleep and he patiently waited for her to wake up.  Chief Dooright had taken Milford back to LazyTown as the Mayor had to conduct business on schedule and try to help clear Sportacus’ name. 

          Sitting soon became a challenge so the above average hero began to pace.  His body couldn’t take all the sitting and he could feel his muscles tighten and become rigid.  Once he was moving again it felt good. 

          “You’re making me dizzy.”  A small familiar voice said.  Immediately the pacing stopped and the above average hero was at Stephanie’s side in an instant.  

          “How are you feeling?”  He asked.

          “Better.  That medication I’m getting is some powerful stuff.”  She smiled.  Carefully Sportacus leaned over and kissed her.  His moustache tickled her cheeks and she giggled.  When they parted he gave her a look.

          “I missed that feeling.”  Stephanie continued to smile.  The above average hero gave a chuckle.

          “Is everything ok?”  She asked.

          “Well Chief Dooright and I are working it out.  Don’t worry yourself, you just focusing on getting better.”  Sportacus smiled.

          “Where is Uncle Milford?”  The nineteen year old wondered.

          “He went back to LazyTown.  I’m to call him every half hour to let him know what’s going on.”  He couldn’t help but laugh at that.

          “I was worried he was going to give himself an aneurysm.”  Stephanie’s smile faded away.  Suddenly she said,

          “I want to go home.”  Tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

          “I know you do but you aren’t well enough yet.”  Sportacus bit his upper lip.

          “The last time I was here…” she couldn’t finish her sentence.  The last time she was in a hospital was when Robbie had broken her arm and the time before that was when her parents were killed.

          “I promise I’ll get you out of here as soon as I can.”  He said.  Then he grabbed the chair and pulled it closer to the bed.  Slipping his hand in hers, Sportacus hoped that he could give her enough strength to get through this.


	19. Chapter 19

Robbie had stayed awake all night.  He kept going over everything in his head; there had been no way that he had slipped up.  The police couldn’t have any evidence that he was the one that had done all of this.  As he was thinking, Chief Dooright appeared in front of his cell.

          “Well well it seems you enjoyed your first trip here so you decided to come back and visit again.”  He smirked.

          “I demand to know why I was brought here.  I’ve done nothing wrong.”  Robbie decided to play a little game to see how much they knew.

          “It seems someone has been trying to set up Sportacus.  It was almost a perfect plan except for the fact that we have witnesses.”  Dooright told him.

          “Witnesses to what?”  The villain asked.

          “To the hero’s strange behavior.”  Bradley didn’t want to give away too much.

          “Well I heard you caught him on tape.  Seems to me that that would be more convincing than some witness.”  Robbie said nonchalantly. 

          “You’d think so but the fact is that since the tape shows him doing something so very uncharacteristic that it will probably help clear him.”  Dooright laughed.

          “Well then I’d like to know what I’m doing here.  It seems you have no proof of anything that would somehow link to me.  I’ve done nothing wrong.”  The villain lied through his teeth.

          “Oh its only a matter of time before we find something.  Our forensic team is very thorough.  They’ll find something.”  Bradley bluffed hoping to see if Robbie would sweat.  However, he wouldn’t get the satisfaction.

          “If you have nothing then I demand to be released.  You have no right to hold me here.”  The villain showed no signs of wavering.  Dooright just narrowed his eyes and left Robbie.  He knew that there were no grounds for him to hold the town’s resident bad guy.  They simply had no proof, that and the whole scheme was so well planned and executed it just didn’t seem like Robbie’s style.  It had been the villain’s stupidity that got him caught the last time.  The police Chief sighed as he left the precinct and headed for his meeting with the District Attorney.

          Meanwhile over in FunTown, Sportacus could feel his body running low on energy.  He needed some sports candy and soon.  The above average hero left Stephanie to see if he could rustle up some in the hospital’s cafeteria.

          Down in the cafeteria, he bumped into Doctor Pundt.  The medical man was trying to get his package of Pop Tarts © out of the vending machine.  With one swift punch from Sportacus’ muscled arm and the breakfast food slid out of the holder.

          “Thanks.”  Pundt smiled.

          “You’re welcome.”  The above average hero smiled back as he walked with the doctor to the food line.

          “How is Stephanie feeling?”  Pundt wondered as he filled a cup with hot coffee.

          “Better I think but she really wants to get out of here.”  Sportacus told him as he grabbed some apples.

          “The food is that bad huh?”  The doctor joked. 

          “I think that’s part of it.”  Sportacus chuckled. Then in all seriousness he said,

          “The other part is that she just hasn’t had very good experiences in hospitals.”  Doctor Pundt nodded and then changed the subject. 

          “I’ll be by to check on her later.  If she continues to improve like she has I hope to release her Saturday.”  Sportacus heaved a sigh as he paid for the apples.  That was still five days away. 

          “Well I’m sure that she’ll be glad to hear that.  We both appreciate everything you are doing Doctor.”  The above average hero said.  Pundt smiled and said,

          “I wish I had such good patients as Stephanie all the time.  She never once complained and she always has a smile on her face.”  This made Sportacus smile.  That was the Stephanie he knew and loved.  The men separated and the above average hero headed back to the nineteen year old’s room.    


	20. Chapter 20

Saturday arrived and Sportacus wheeled Stephanie in a wheelchair out to her Uncle’s waiting car.  The doctor was happy with Stephanie’s progress and had kept his word about releasing her.  Unfortunately, she would have to wheel herself around in the wheelchair for the next four weeks since her ribs weren’t healed enough to use crutches.  The cast on her right leg would be removed in four weeks as well.  The concussion had healed but the doctor wanted her to avoid things hitting her head for a while.  There was a good chance that she could easily cause another one and the longer she went without hitting her head the better. 

          With Stephanie in the car, the above average hero folded up the wheelchair and placed it in the trunk.  Then he climbed in on the passenger side and Milford pulled the car out of the pull around in the front of the hospital as they headed back to LazyTown. 

          “I’ve missed a lot of school.”  Stephanie said.

          “Don’t worry.  I explained the situation to your professors.  You didn’t miss any tests so they are confident that you can make up the reading and homework without much trouble.”  The Mayor told her.  The nineteen year old nodded and then turned to look out the window.  Soon the silence in the car became oppressive.  Sportacus reached across the seat and took Stephanie’s hand.  This made her turn from the window, a smile on her face.  She could see the loving look in his eyes and knew that everything would be ok.

          “There’s a press conference today.”  He said softly.  Stephanie knew that this had something to do with the case the police had.

          “What time?”  She asked.

          “Eleven am.  Just under an hour from now.”  Sportacus told her.

          “Good news, I hope.”  The pink haired girl said.  A smile crossed the above average hero’s face.  This was very reassuring to her.

          The time went fast and Chief Dooright stood at the podium, ready to address the crowd.  He cleared his throat and stepped up to the microphone.

          “Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please.”  The crowd silenced and looked at the police officer.

          “I have some very important news regarding the case against Sportacus.  As of this moment all charges have been dismissed.”  A gasp went up from the crowd.

          “Who is going to pay for the copies?  And what about the defacing of the Town Hall?”  A cry went up from the back of the townspeople.

          “We have evidence and witness statements that prove Sportacus was not acting of his own volition.  Also he did not set up the train and explosion.  There is a person or persons responsible for trying to set our hero up.  **_Never_** would Sportacus willingly try to hurt someone.  **_Never_** would he steal or deface public property.”  Dooright explained.  The crowd murmured.  Then the manager of the copy store came forward.

          “I agree with the Chief.  Sportacus wouldn’t do that.  The amount of copies he made isn’t going to make or break my store.” 

          “Sir, I feel that I should still help you out in some way.  I’m sorry that I could not control my actions.”  Sportacus stepped forward to the man.

          “You have saved this town time and again, Sportacus.  You just keep doing what you’re doing, that will be good enough for me.” Mr. Johansson smiled.  The above average hero smiled and the two shook hands.

          “The spray paint on the Town Hall is being taken care of by the prison work program.  They will have that taken care of in no time.  Now as for the attempted murder of Trixie and Stephanie, we still do not have enough evidence to discover who is the perpetrator or possibly perpetrators.  We are asking anyone with information to come forward.”  Dooright once again addressed the crowd.

          “Three cheers for Sportacus!”  Someone shouted.

          “Hip hip hooray!”  Everyone in the crowd exclaimed.  This was followed by two more shouts before the crowd dispersed leaving a small group behind. 

          “Well I guess things are back to normal.”  Trixie smiled.

          “Yes I guess so.  I want to thank all of you for helping me.”  Sportacus said.

          “It’s the least we could do after all you’ve done for us.”  Ziggy couldn’t contain his sugar-induced smile.

          On the other side of town however, someone wasn’t happy about this morning’s events.  He paced the floor in his lair.

          “Unfreaking real.  I do everything to get a conviction of that blue suited boob and still I managed to screw it up.  Not only did he get off scot-free, the townspeople actually forgave him.  Not only that, now there are two attempted murder charges floating around.”  Robbie shook his head before flopping down onto his fuzzy orange chair.

          “Freaking brilliant Robbie.  Freaking brilliant.”  He said to himself.

**The End**


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